Portebello

Portebello to Bocas del Toro January/2011


We spent a week sorting out SeaCycles teething problems in Portebello. Our stay went well and it was good meeting some old friends and picking up a new aquaintances.We had just missed a lot of friends who had been holed up here for weeks forming a small fleet which finally got a weather window to the Honduras winter cruising grounds via Providencia. Thats another part of the Caribbean circuit which puts them a step closer to home and the end of their trips. I refuse to head that way yet.Portebello is still recovering from Decembers diasastrous rain floods in which a mudslide ocurred wiping out a swath of houses and killing four people.
Panama had so much rain they had to shut down the Panama canal twice for the first time in a hundred years. The town still has no internet and the drinking water is suspect. But reconstruction has started with the rebuilding of the fort which also suffered damage.These pictures were taken four months after the events. But after a few hundred years of a rich existence the town and center will survive.This was one of the most fabled treasure ports on the planet.Sacked by Morgan and taken by Admiral Vernon it was the transit conduit for all the South American treasure mostly Potosi silver looted by Spain for 250 years. In fact Portobello Road in London was named in honour of the Vernon event. The orginal treasure house is still here as well as walls of the forts and just outside the harbour Drakes body lies supposedly buried off Isla Draque in a lead coffin. Today designated as a world UNESCO site it is a sleepy small town trying to finds its feet through tourism and a bit of port activity. With no road between Panama and Colombia there is a thriving if somewhat controversial trade in runnig backpackers between the two countries. Portbello is the eastern hub with Cartagena being the western port. But more on that later. A couple of packbacker boats have set up a bar and hostel here which as started to act as a center of gravity for the cruisering community and bringing more activity here than we have seen before. After a week we lifted the hook at 6 am and headed out to Bocas del Toro on the Panama and Costa Rican border. We were hoping to arrive the next afternoon.
to be continued